radiofree.asia

Category: Uzbekistan

  • Amid COVID-19 Surge, Kazakhstan Admits First Patients To Sports Arena Converted Into Hospital

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Health authorities in Kazakhstan’s largest city have admitted the first patients into a sports stadium that has been converted into a COVID-19 hospital as infection cases have multiplied, officials in Almaty said on March 31.

    The transformed Halyq Arena has 1,000 beds. It is hoped it can alleviate overcrowding spurred by the recent surge in cases.

    It opened as a 3,000-seat, double-domed arena for ice hockey and other events in 2016.

    More than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases have been registered in the past two days in the city, which fell into “red zone” status of the national coronavirus task force.

    Kazakhstan embarked last month on its vaccine campaign, using Russia’s Sputnik V injection, with plans to introduce a nationally produced vaccine later.

    By March 31, the number of registered coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan had reached 244,981, including 3,046 deaths, making it the worst-hit country in Central Asia, according to official figures.

    But the statistics among some of its neighbors strain credulity, including Turkmenistan’s claim that it has had zero COVID-19 cases even as suspicious deaths mount and local health facilities show signs of overcrowding in the tightly controlled country.

    National vaccination programs have begun in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the past week, both with Chinese vaccines.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Interior Ministry Blames Blogger For ‘Provoking’ Attack That Put Him In Hospital

    TASHKENT — Uzbekistan’s Interior Ministry has blamed Miraziz Bazarov, a well-known rights activist and blogger, for “provoking” an attack that left him in hospital with severe head and leg injuries.

    In a video statement placed on YouTube on March 29, the ministry claimed that Bazarov was attacked after he called on “individuals with nontraditional sexual orientation” to hold mass demonstrations near the Hazrati Imam mosque and Amir Timur avenue in downtown Tashkent.

    Bazarov, who was attacked by three masked men near his apartment block in Tashkent late on March 28, remains in hospital in a very serious condition.

    According to the latest statement by physicians at the Tashkent Traumatology Hospital, Bazarov sustained open and closed traumas to his skull, an open fracture of the right leg, and numerous bruises to his body.

    The ministry said in its video that Bazarov “had deliberately ignored” social-behavior rules by distributing videos with contents “not typical for the Uzbek nation,” and “demonstrating his perverted behavior to the society.”

    “[Bazarov], acting with the assistance and support of destructive external forces and ill-intentioned international nongovernmental organizations, attempted to propagate homosexualism and similar evils, despite the fact that it is banned by Uzbek law, and created the atmosphere of protest and intolerance,” the ministry’s statement said.

    Bazarov is known for his criticism of the Uzbek government on his Telegram channel.

    Among other issues, Bazarov has publicly urged the government to decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct, which is considered a crime in Uzbekistan.

    Bazarov has said several times that he is not an LGBT activist, but believes that being gay is a personal issue and that laws should not be created to regulate it.

    Pop Music Event

    His mother, Miraziza Bazarova, who was allowed to see her son on March 29, told RFE/RL that she was shocked to see the severity of injuries her son sustained.

    “There must be no place for such brutality and violence in our society. I met with law enforcement officers. They promised to find and punish the attackers. I hope very much that they will,” Bazarova said.

    WATCH: Uzbek Rights Campaigner And Government Critic Severely Beaten

    Uzbek photographer Timur Karpov told RFE/RL that Bazarov was attacked when he was approaching his home with his girlfriend, Nelya. According to him, the couple had noted that they had been followed by a vehicle for several days before the attack.

    Hours before the attack, a weekly public event for fans of Japanese anime and Korean pop music, which Bazarov organizes each Sunday, was disrupted by dozens of aggressive men who chanted Allah Akbar! (God is great!).

    The Interior Ministry’s video statement said that incident was the result of Bazarov’s “provocative” statements.

    “As a result, on March 28, a group of our citizens who considered [Bazarov’s] calls as an insult, gathered on Amir Timur avenue,” and “created a situation compromising public safety by staging mass disorders,” the ministry said, adding that “individuals responsible for the disorder have been apprehended.”

    The ministry did not say whether any of those apprehended were also involved in the attack on Bazarov.

    Bazarov has been critical of President Shavkat Mirziyoev for failing to rein in corruption and has questioned the efficiency of ongoing restrictions to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

    Last summer, Bazarov was questioned by State Security Service investigators after he called on the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank not to provide loans to Uzbekistan without strict control over how the funds are used.

    Bazarov had told RFE/RL that in recent weeks he had received many online threats. Despite informing police of the threats, no action was taken by law enforcement, he said.

    Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and the U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Daniel Rosenblum have condemned the attack against Bazarov and urged Uzbek authorities to thoroughly investigate it.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Activist Reveals ‘Threatening’ Video As He Prepares To Run For President

    ISTANBUL, Turkey — Well-known Uzbek singer and opposition activist Jahongir Otajonov says he has been threatened with bodily harm after he announced his intention to run for Uzbekistan’s October presidential election.

    Otajonov provided RFE/RL with what he said was a video taken by a security camera in his office in the Turkish city of Istanbul that showed three unknown men making thinly veiled threats against him on March 27.

    The men in the video, who refused to identify themselves, told Otajonov that they came “just to tell” him that up to $15,000 had been offered to potential attackers in recent weeks to “seriously beat” him.

    The three men speak broken Russian mixed with Uzbek in the video, using phrases that are common among criminal groups in the former Soviet Union, as well as continuously calling Otajonov “brother.”

    “If you think this is just a joke, well, it’s not. Time will prove it and place everything in its proper perspective, right? That is why we came, to discuss the situation with you. We know those people [who ordered the beating] through connections and we can ask them, at this point, to calm down,” one of the visitors says.

    Otajonov told RFE/RL that he considers the visit to be an obvious attempt of “blackmail and a threat to frighten” him because of his intention to take part in the October presidential election.

    He said, however, he had no plans to change his mind on running for the presidency or curbing his political activities.

    The incident comes days after Uzbek rights activist and government critic Miraziz Bazarov was hospitalized after he was attacked by unknown men hours after a public event he held was disrupted by dozens of aggressive men in Tashkent.

    The men informed Otajonov that they knew his plans for the near future, namely his intention to visit Uzbekistan in the coming days.

    “Brother, you are going to return to Tashkent in four days, aren’t you? They will be waiting for you there as well,” another man says in Uzbek on the video.

    The visitors said they know Otajonov to be “a good person” and therefore “just wanted to let him know” about the possible danger he faces.

    Otajonov said that a day after the visit he turned to Istanbul police, asking for help.

    Otajonov announced his plans to run for the presidency in January. The founding congress of his Interests Of The People party was disrupted by a group of unknown women.

    Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev took over the most-populous nation of the Central Asian region of 32 million people after his authoritarian predecessor Islam Karimov’s death was announced on September 1, 2016.

    Since then, Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a reformer, releasing political prisoners and opening the country to its neighbors and the outside world, though many activists have cautioned that the reforms have not gone far enough.

    Though Mirziyoev has said he is not against having opposition political groups in Uzbekistan, it has been nearly impossible for any genuine opposition party to be registered in Uzbekistan since the country gained independence in late 1991.

    The presidential election will be held on October 24.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Gay Rights Campaigner Hospitalized After Attack

    TASHKENT — Uzbek gay rights campaigner Miraziz Bazarov has been hospitalized after being brutally attacked by unknown men.

    Physicians at the Tashkent Traumatology Hospital told RFE/RL on March 29 that the 29-year-old government critic sustained multiple injures to his internal organs and legs, including an open fracture of the left leg, and a concussion.

    They said he was brought to the hospital the night before.

    According to the doctors, Bazarov’s situation was very serious and he will be moved to another hospital, where he may need to undergo brain surgery.

    One of Bazarov’s neighbors, who said he witnessed the assault, told RFE/RL that the blogger was attacked in the evening on March 28 near his apartment block by three masked men, one of whom had a baseball bat.

    According to the witness, the attack lasted only about three minutes.

    The director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Hugh Williamson, condemned the attack, calling it “totally awful.”

    “Uzbekistan has committed at UN Human Rights Council this month — in theory — to uphold int’l human rights standards. It should do so! End attacks on lgbt people,” Williamson tweeted on March 28.

    Last week, HRW said in a statement that gay men in Uzbekistan face arbitrary detention, prosecution, and imprisonment and called on Tashkent to guarantee lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights and decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct.

    Earlier on March 28, Bazarov told journalists that a weekly public event for fans of Japanese anime and Korean pop music, which he organizes each Sunday, had been disrupted by dozens of aggressive men who chanted “Allah Akbar!” or “God is great.”

    Bazarov is known for his criticism of the Uzbek government on his Telegram channel.

    He has called on the authorities to decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct in the Central Asian country, criticized President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s government for its poor efforts fighting corruption, and questioned the efficiency of ongoing restrictions to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

    Last summer, Bazarov was questioned by State Security Service investigators after he called on the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank on Facebook not to provide loans to Uzbekistan without strict control over how the funds are used.

    Bazarov earlier told RFE/RL that in recent weeks he had received many online threats, of which he had informed the police, but they had not taken any action.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China Ships More Goods Via Russian, Central Asian Land Routes As Sea Costs Rise

    Chinese companies have been sending more goods by rail through Russia and Central Asia in recent months as the cost of shipping by sea increases.

    China sent more than 2,000 freight trains to Europe during the first two months of 2021, double the rate a year earlier when the coronavirus first hit, the Financial Times reported.

    An equipment manufacturer in the Yiwu in eastern China told the paper that prices for sea transport have “skyrocketed” since last year as the coronavirus spurred demand in Europe for electronics and other home appliances.

    Meanwhile, sea transportation times have doubled, the manufacturer said.

    An agent providing export services in Shenzhen said that between 20 and 30 percent of her clients had switched from sea to rail.

    Sea transport has become the focus of international attention after a ship became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking all traffic. The Suez Canal offers the shortest route by sea from Asia to Europe.

    Despite the jump in the use of rail transport, it still accounts for a small fraction of total goods exported from China to Europe. And it may not last.

    The Shenzhen agent said she expected clients to return to shipping routes when the pandemic eased.

    With reporting by the Financial Times

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: New Rules In Kazakhstan, Death Threats In Kyrgyzstan — The Problems Facing Central Asian Journalists

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released separate reports on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on March 23.

    Relative to Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have the most media-friendly environments but the CPJ reports highlight various problems. In Kazakhstan, for example, the government has been limiting the ability of journalists to do their job. Meanwhile, troll factories have been operating in Kyrgyzstan to discredit the work of some reporters, and at least one journalist says death threats are being posted on his social network accounts.

    The situation is still grim for independent media in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan remain grim, although some outlets in Uzbekistan have been testing the limits of what can and cannot be reported.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the problems media outlets and journalists face in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Kazakhstan, Diana Okremova, the director of the Legal Media Center in Nur-Sultan; from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Timur Toktonaliev, the Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting; from New York, Gulnoza Said, the Central Asia coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: New Rules In Kazakhstan, Death Threats In Kyrgyzstan — The Problems Facing Central Asian Journalists

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released separate reports on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on March 23.

    Relative to Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have the most media-friendly environments but the CPJ reports highlight various problems. In Kazakhstan, for example, the government has been limiting the ability of journalists to do their job. Meanwhile, troll factories have been operating in Kyrgyzstan to discredit the work of some reporters, and at least one journalist says death threats are being posted on his social network accounts.

    The situation is still grim for independent media in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan remain grim, although some outlets in Uzbekistan have been testing the limits of what can and cannot be reported.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the problems media outlets and journalists face in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: from Kazakhstan, Diana Okremova, the director of the Legal Media Center in Nur-Sultan; from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Timur Toktonaliev, the Central Asia editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting; from New York, Gulnoza Said, the Central Asia coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Celebrations Over Uzbekistan’s First Independent Trade Union Cut Short By Threats, Harassment

    What looked like a victory this month for Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, his government, and their reform pledges instead risks becoming just another example of empty promises in Central Asia’s most populous country.

    On March 19, around 280 workers from the Indorama Agro cotton farm gathered for the founding meeting of Uzbekistan’s first independent trade union, Halq Birligi (People’s Unity).

    The Berlin-based Uzbek Forum for Human Rights called it a “historic day,” but the victory did not last long.

    By March 24, Uzbek Forum was reporting that local officials were harassing members of the new union.

    “Leaders of Xalq Birligi…reported receiving calls from officials at the local administration who did not identify themselves, warning them that their involvement in union activities would cause them problems,” Uzbek Forum wrote.

    The report said police were also phoning union activists “demanding that they stop their organizing activities and leave the union.”

    The new union aims to protect the rights of Indorama Agro’s workers in Syrdarya Province.

    Singapore-based Indorama Agro has been active in Uzbekistan since 2010, mainly in the cotton industry.

    According to Uzbek Forum, the Uzbek government made some 40,000 hectares of irrigated land available to Indorama Agro in four districts — the Kasbi and Nishan districts of Kashkadarya Province and the Akaltyn and Sardoba districts of Syrdarya Province — in August 2018 to “organize modern cotton-textile production.”

    Indorama Agro established cluster farms, a controversial scheme that allows companies to invest money and reorganize land and local labor to boost efficiency in production.

    Critics argue that this system has simply allowed the wealthy — some with alleged connections to senior Uzbek officials — to privatize agriculturally based businesses in the areas, depriving local farmers of their land and stripping local workers of many of their rights.

    And some Uzbek farmers have alleged that they are being forced to work on cluster farms.

    RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik, reported in January that more than 100 textile workers from an Indorama Agro cluster farm in Kashkadarya Province’s Kasbi district demonstrated after they were laid off without being paid accrued wages.

    One of the allegations was that Indorama Agro had dispensed with many full-time contract workers and switched to three-month contracts without sick pay, pensions, or compensation for overtime.

    Some workers at Indorama Agro clusters complain of low wages, and Uzbek Forum quoted one farm worker as saying he had worked for two years without a vacation or holiday leave.

    Halq Birligi is vowing to change that and otherwise work to rein in alleged abuses on cluster farms in Syrdarya Province, as well as to improve working conditions for agricultural laborers.

    But the independent union appears to be running into some of the same obstacles that other local rights activists and opposition political parties have experienced.

    Uzbek Forum reported that on March 19, when Halq Birligi unionists intended to hold their meeting, “workers had rented a meeting room to hold their election but when they arrived, the building administrator refused them entry, telling them the room was unavailable due to ‘urgent repairs.’”

    Uzbek Forum said workers then moved to a nearly teahouse, “but the electricity was cut off soon after they began. They continued their meeting outside, with workers holding up their cell-phone flashlights to provide light.”

    Roza Agaydarova was elected head of the union.

    According to Uzbek Forum, Agaydarova said on March 23 that “she received a call from a regional representative of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, the national union federation, which is not considered independent from the government, and was told that according to the laws of Uzbekistan, they had to join the federation, otherwise their union is invalid.”

    Uzbek Forum cited a guarantee in Uzbekistan’s new law on trade unions ensuring workers the right to join the organization of their choice and the right to avoid being forced into joining an organization.

    Ozodlik contacted the head of the Syrdarya provincial branch of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, Rustambek Tursunmuradov, who confirmed he had phoned Agaydarova and told her that forming an independent trade union was a bad idea.

    Asked why his organization had not defended the rights of farmers working for Indorama Agro, Tursunmuradov said that when those individuals started working for Indorama Agro they lost their membership in the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan.

    After the death of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, in 2016, Mirziyoev came to power promising better working conditions, including the eradication of forced labor in the cotton fields.

    Most observers agree that there has been significant progress toward ending forced labor in Uzbekistan. But the cluster-farm idea is not only unpopular; it could be counterproductive if the goal truly is to improve working conditions for agricultural workers.

    The executive director of the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, Umida Niyazova, credited Mirziyoev’s government for showing “the political will to combat forced labor and open its economy.”

    But, she added, “The way it treats the first independent trade union is a test of the seriousness of its reforms, and the world is watching.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyz Security Chief Says Border Issues With Uzbekistan ‘Fully Resolved’

    BISHKEK — Kyrgyzstan says long-standing border issues with Uzbekistan have been “100 percent fully resolved.”

    Kamchybek Tashiev, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, told RFE/RL on March 26 that talks with a group of Uzbek officials led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov had ended with the signing of a protocol on the final delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

    Tashiev, who led the Kyrgyz delegation at the talks in Tashkent on March 24-25, said that no disputed segments of the border will remain after the protocol’s implementation.

    The border between the two Central Asian neighbors has been a major bone of contention in bilateral ties since 1991, when they gained independence from the Soviet Union.

    Over the past decades there have been numerous incidents along the border, including gunfire.

    The situation began to improve following the 2016 death of Uzbekistan’s long-ruling authoritarian president, Islam Karimov.

    His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoev, has said that improving ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbors is a major priority of his foreign policy.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China Prepares New Era Of ‘Belt And Road’ Amid Pandemic Pressures

    After declaring victories over extreme poverty and the coronavirus, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has laid out a new path for China’s economic rise at home and abroad that could force Beijing to adapt to new difficulties caused by the pandemic.

    The future direction came as the Chinese Communist Party’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, convened in Beijing on March 5 for a more-than-week-long gathering to unveil a new economic blueprint — known as the country’s 14th five-year plan — and chart a broad course for China to claim its place as a modern nation and true global power.

    The annual summit of Chinese lawmakers laid out broad guidelines that would shape the country’s growth model over the next 15 years.

    Preoccupied with growing China’s tech industry amid a deepening rivalry with the United States, it also provided a platform for Xi to tout the merits of his autocratic style and tightening grip on power at home.

    While the stagecraft of the conclave focused on China’s domestic goals, they remain deeply intertwined with Beijing’s global ambitions, particularly the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a blanket term for the multibillion-dollar centerpiece of Xi’s foreign policy that builds influence through infrastructure, investment, and closer political ties.

    “The message is a continuation and doubling-down of what we’ve been seeing for years, which is that China is growing stronger and it feels confident to elbow its way in even more around the world,” Raffaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute, told RFE/RL.

    A giant screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11.

    A giant screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the closing session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi echoed this during an expansive March 8 press conference on the sidelines of the congress in Beijing, where he said there would be no pause for BRI and that it had and would continue to evolve amid the constraints and opportunities caused by the pandemic.

    “[BRI] isn’t so much a specific project as it is a broad vision,” Pantucci said, “and visions can be reshaped as needed, which is what we’re seeing now.”

    An Evolving Vision

    Despite the display of strength and unity coming out of Beijing over the country’s success in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and keeping its economy growing amid the pressures of the pandemic, Beijing finds itself facing new global pressure.

    The BRI has suffered setbacks recently due to concerns in host countries over mounting debts, with many governments — from Africa to Central Asia — asking China for debt forgiveness and restructuring. Beijing is also looking to rebuild its credibility, which was hurt over its early handling of COVID-19 in the central city of Wuhan, and navigate growing pressure from Western countries that have begun to push back against Chinese tech and political policies.

    In the face of this, Beijing has looked for new opportunities to demonstrate global leadership, providing vaccines and medical equipment to countries across the globe and raising climate-change concerns.

    This has also applied to the BRI.

    During his press conference, Wang focused on the initiative’s traditional infrastructure emphasis, but also pointed towards new horizons for the policy, such as medical diplomacy as well as a shifting focus on tech and foreign aid. China is the world’s largest emerging donor and a new white paper released in January by the Chinese government outlined its plans to play an ambitious leading role in the international aid system.

    Many experts also say Beijing will look to build off its growing “vaccine diplomacy” campaign and use China’s recent success in fighting poverty to find new ways to build ties and deepen cooperation around the world.

    “Fighting poverty and medical coordination linked to the pandemic and its aftermath will be a major focus of Chinese diplomacy moving forward,” Zhang Xin, a research fellow at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, told RFE/RL. “[BRI] is an umbrella initiative that can include everything and this will be one of the new fronts under that umbrella.”

    Realities On The Ground

    Despite the growing opportunities, China’s flagship project is also facing plenty of challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic on the ground.

    In addition to debt concerns, closed or partially open borders with China’s neighbors in South and Central Asia due to China’s strict COVID restrictions remain a point of tension, and have led to massive lines, trade bottlenecks, and ballooning transportation costs.

    China’s overseas energy lending has likewise dropped to its lowest level since 2008, after the pandemic severely hampered deal-making in developing states, according to Boston University’s Global Energy Finance Database, which saw financing for foreign energy projects fall by 43 percent to $4.6 billion in 2020.

    And while the pandemic provided an all-time high for freight-train traffic to Europe from China, it has slowed trade from Central Asia to China. Only limited traffic is allowed to pass through China’s border post with Kyrgyzstan, something the new government in Bishkek is trying to change as it deals with the economic blows of the pandemic.

    Kyrgyz Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov met with Du Dewen, China’s ambassador to Bishkek, on March 3 to discuss speeding up border crossings and increasing trade, but progress remains uncertain as long as China stays wary of the spread of COVID-19 in Central Asia.

    Similarly, traders in Tajikistan are still grappling with border closures as they remain cut off from their main export destination. Many of the merchants complain they are being squeezed out by Chinese competitors.

    Preliminary Chinese trade data for 2020 shows that imports to China from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fell by more than 45 percent compared to 2019.

    Tensions also continue to flare in Pakistan, where the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s flagship BRI project, is progressing slowly amid multiple setbacks and delays. While problems with the initiative are not new, Beijing has aired its frustrations and supported the Pakistani military taking greater control over CPEC, which it views as a more reliable partner than the country’s political class.

    Global Headwinds

    Trade and relations with neighboring Russia, however, appear to still be a bright spot for Beijing. Russian customs figures show that China continues to make up a growing share of its trade as Moscow increasingly finds itself sanctioned and cut off from the West.

    Political ties between Beijing and Moscow are also deepening. Wang spoke at length at his press conference about how the two governments were working closer together in a variety of fields, from plans to build a lunar space station to joint efforts in vaccine production.

    Wang also said that the two countries were working to combat “color revolutions” and to fight against a “political virus,” hinting at their shared animosity towards the United States.

    “The overall tone is quite clear, the partnership between China and Russia is being heavily valued,” Zhang said. “The Chinese state is emphasizing this relationship and how they can act together [with Russia] to face shared challenges around the world.”

    Chief among those challenges for Beijing is continuing to grow its economy at home and navigate its rivalry with the United States.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national-security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Alaska on March 18 for the first meeting between Beijing and the administration of President Joe Biden.

    China is also looking to take successful policies at home and build upon them abroad under the banner of the BRI. China was the only major world economy to expand last year and many of its neighbors across Eurasia are hoping Chinese economic growth can help them with a post-pandemic recovery.

    But China’s own recovery remains fragile in some areas, including in consumer spending, and regulators are growing more worried about real-estate prices rising to unsustainable levels. The Chinese stock market began to recover on March 11 after a large rout that saw officials censor the word “stock market” from social media searches in the country, showcasing the sensitivity to anything that can derail Beijing’s ambitions at home or abroad.

    “There are many challenges ahead for the Chinese leadership to navigate and maintaining economic growth is the biggest one,” Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, told RFE/RL. “Xi cares about political power and boosting economic growth is the best way to hold on to political power.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: What Is Turkey Seeking In Central Asia?

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited three Central Asian countries from March 6 to 9.

    Boosting trade was a big part of Cavusoglu’s mission during his visit to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, but there were unique reasons for the Turkish minister’s visit to each country.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on Turkish-Central Asian ties and what Cavusoglu was doing in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

    This week’s guests are: from the United Kingdom, Gul Berna Ozcan, reader in international business and entrepreneurship at the Royal Holloway University of London; from Bishkek, Medet Tiulegenov, assistant professor at the American University of Central Asia; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Farmers Unhappy With President’s Order Giving Land To Jobless Youth

    Just as many Uzbek farmers began sowing the seeds for this season’s crops, President Shavkat Mirziyoev called on them to give some of their agricultural land to young people without jobs.

    “Every farmer should allocate two hectares of land [that will] be given to four young people, [each of them getting] half a hectare,” Mirziyoev said at a cabinet meeting in Tashkent on January 27. “They will grow whatever crop they like on that land.”

    The president ordered that one hectare from every 10 hectares of farmland should be given to young people.

    Six weeks since the announcement, many farmers told RFE/RL they were unhappy watching their income diminish. But in an authoritarian country where the president enjoys enormous power, farmers have no choice but to comply.

    “Representatives from local governments and prosecutor’s offices gathered us together and said there were 300 young unemployed people in our district that should be given land,” a farmer from the eastern Namangon Province’s Uichi district told RFE/RL. “We had to agree, what else can we do? This is a government order and we have to agree or we could lose all of our land,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

    RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service received similar complaints from many other farmers from across Central Asia’s most populous country.

    “We still have to pay taxes for that part of the land that was taken from us,” said a farmer from the Qushrabot district of Samarkand Province. “Those who received our land [for free] don’t have to pay for anything.”

    Uzbek officials have insisted they are not forcing anyone to give up their land.

    Helping Your Neighbor

    An official from the Agriculture Department in Namangan Province told RFE/RL the project was being implemented carefully, taking into consideration the situation on the ground. “The land is being allocated depending on the capacity of each farming enterprise and each district,” the official said. He pointed out that many people had welcomed the project, which he said provided young people with an opportunity to earn their own money.

    In the eastern Andijon Province, one farmer says he supports the idea of helping others, although he admits “it does hurts” his own income. “It’s impossible not to give a part of your land to your neighbors when you see they’re struggling without work,” said Elyorbek Hakimov, the head of the Sobitkhon-Ota farming enterprise in Andijon’s Ulughnor district.

    Hakimov said his farming enterprise had allocated farmland to four young people who were unemployed. He said they’d already grown corn and potatoes and he believes that if the new farmers work hard, “they can harvest two crops in one season.”

    “Our young people can’t go anywhere to find jobs now,” Hakimov said. “But [if they get land] at home they will make at least some money by growing crops.”

    President Shavkat Mirziyoev (left) talks with a farmer in the Buka district of the Tashkent region. Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    President Shavkat Mirziyoev (left) talks with a farmer in the Buka district of the Tashkent region. Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    Jobs are hard to come by in Uzbekistan, where many households in the country of some 35 million depend on worker remittances sent from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other countries. According to government statistics, unemployment in Uzbekistan in 2020 was about 13 percent, although the real figures could be higher than the official statement.

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, experts estimated that about 6 million Uzbeks worked abroad, many of them engaged in seasonal jobs such as construction work and farming. Since last year, millions of Uzbek migrant workers have been unable to travel abroad as the pandemic led to border closures and travel restrictions.

    ‘Give Them Incentives’

    Mirziyoev has said that about 14,000 young people applied to receive agricultural land last year.

    Meanwhile, some of those who received free farmland told RFE/RL that in a few cases the authorities took the land back just days later without providing any reason.

    For example, in Samarkand’s Qushrabot region, officials canceled the allocation of some 22 hectares of land a week after the documents had been signed.

    RFE/RL spoke to one young person in Qushrabot who was given about 40 acres of land before it was taken back by the local government. He said several unemployed youth were given agricultural land under the president’s plan. But the decision was reversed by district officials who gave no reason.

    Uzbekistan analyst Saparboy Jubaev says the government must use its own resources to create jobs for young people in rural areas. “Such projects shouldn’t be implemented at the expense of farmers,” said Jubaev, a former official in the Uzbek Finance Ministry.

    “For example, in Kazakhstan, the government provides incentives for young people willing to move to remote, rural areas in the country’s north,” said Jubaev, who works at the Eurasian National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. “The government offers them land parcels, livestock, machinery, and financial aid.”

    In a separate action, Mirziyoev has also urged private entrepreneurs to give jobs to younger people. That project, too, has been unpopular with many businessmen, who complain they are on the verge of bankruptcy after many months of quarantines and restrictions due to the pandemic.

    Analysts note that Mirziyoev’s predeccessor, autocratic leader Islam Karimov, tried at various times during his turbulent rule to carry out agrarian reform, the last time in 2008.

    Those plans — which included land seizures — also angered many farmers and were largely viewed as unsuccessful.

    Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Khurmat Babajanov of RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Working To Eradicate Gender Bias In Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan

    As Central Asian countries mark International Women’s Day on March 8 this year, it also marks roughly one year since the coronavirus became a global pandemic.

    The spread of the virus prompted a series of measures in countries throughout the world, including lockdowns that saw millions of people confined to their homes for periods of time.

    Incidents of domestic violence jumped in many places.

    Public events were prohibited in many countries, including rallies in Central Asia to raise awareness of gender violence and promote equal rights were restricted, so many advocacy groups for women’s rights shifted their message to social networks and other media to continue fighting for women’s rights in the patriarchal societies of Central Asia.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on what has changed in the last year, the challenges that remain, and what is being done to bring gender equality to the region and end violence against women.

    This week’s guests are: from Bishkek, Natalia Nikitenko, a deputy in Kyrgyzstan’s parliament; from Tashkent, Irina Matvienko, journalist, rights defender, and founder of NeMolchi.uz, an organization fighting to end violence against women; from Washington, Jasmine Cameron, a senior staff attorney at the Human Rights Center of the American Bar Association, which published a recent report about violence against women in Kyrgyzstan, and Bruce Pannier, author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Who Lives In Uzbekistan’s Shovvozsoy Mansion?

    RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service recently released a detailed report about a new resort that was secretly built about 100 kilometers southeast of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.

    Allegedly it is the luxurious hideaway of President Shavkat Mirziyoev, which would seem to undercut Mirziyoev’s promises for a more responsible and transparent government than the one he inherited in September 2016 when his predecessor, Islam Karimov, died.

    On this week’s Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the new complex, who it belongs to, and what is now being said about it inside Uzbekistan.

    This week’s guests are: from Tashkent, Mira Matyakubowa, co-founder of the anti-corruption organization UzInvestigations and a fellow at the U.K.-based Foreign Policy Center; from Prague, Carl Schreck, RFE/RL enterprise editor; and Bruce Pannier, author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’: A Look At Some Of The Biggest Names On The List

    Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s time as an Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience” was short-lived — but not because he was released from detention.

    Navalny received the designation on January 17 following his arrest at a Moscow airport by Russian authorities who said he had violated the terms of a suspended sentence stemming from a 2014 embezzlement conviction. Navalny and his supporters say that both the conviction and the alleged violation are unfounded, politically motivated, and absurd.

    The subsequent conversion of the suspended sentence into more than 30 months of real prison time promised to keep the ardent Kremlin critic away from street protests for the near-term, even as he stayed in the focus of anti-government demonstrators and human rights groups such as Amnesty.

    But on February 23, Amnesty withdrew the designation, citing what it said were past comments by the 44-year old anti-corruption activist that “reach the threshold of advocacy of hatred.”

    The term “prisoner of conscience” is widely attributed to the founder of Amnesty International, Peter Benenson, who used it in 1961 to describe two Portuguese students who had each been sentenced to seven years in prison simply for making a toast to freedom under a dictatorial government.

    The label initially came to apply mainly to dissidents in the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc satellites, but over the years expanded to include hundreds of religious, political opposition, and media figures around the world, including countries of the former Soviet Union and others in RFE/RL’s immediate coverage region.

    According to Amnesty’s current criteria for the designation, prisoners of conscience are people who have “not used or advocated violence but are imprisoned because of who they are (sexual orientation, ethnic, national, or social origin, language, birth, color, sex or economic status) or what they believe (religious, political or other conscientiously held beliefs).”

    Navalny’s delisting has been tied by Amnesty to comments he made in the mid-2000s, as his star as a challenger to President Vladimir Putin and as an anti-corruption crusader in Russia was on the rise, but also as he came under criticism for his association with ethnic Russian nationalists and for statements seen as racist and dangerously inflammatory.

    And while the rights watchdog acknowledged that the flood of requests it received to review Navalny’s past statements appeared to originate from pro-Kremlin critics of Navalny, Amnesty ultimately determined that he no longer fit the bill for the designation, even as the organization continued to call for his immediate release from prison as he was being “persecuted for purely political reasons.”

    The “prisoner of conscience” designation is a powerful tool in advocating for the humane treatment of people who hold different religious, political, and sexual views than the powers that be — in some cases helping to lead to the release of prisoners.

    Here’s a look at some of the biggest names who have been or remain on the list.

    In Russia

    Russia is a virtual cornucopia of prisoners of conscience, with formidable political opposition figures, journalists, LGBT rights activists, and advocates for ethno-national rights gracing the list.

    Political Opposition

    Boris Nemtsov

    Boris Nemtsov

    Boris Nemtsov, the opposition politician who was shot dead in 2015, received the designation in 2011, along with activists Ilya Yashin and Eduard Limonov, after they attended a rally in Moscow in support of free assembly.

    Big Business

    Former Yukos owners Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s and Platon Lebedev’s listing the same year relating to what Amnesty called “deeply flawed and politically motivated” charges that led to their imprisonment years earlier drew sharp condemnation from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

    ‘Terror Network’

    In February 2020, Amnesty applied the designation to seven men standing trial in central Russia on what it called “absurd” charges relating to membership in a “nonexistent ‘terrorist’ organization.”

    Days later, all seven members were convicted and sentenced to prison for belonging to a “terrorist cell” labeled by authorities as “Network” that the authorities claimed planned to carry out a series of explosions in Russia during the 2018 presidential election and World Cup soccer tournament.

    Religious Persecution

    Aleksandr Gabyshev — a shaman in the Siberian region of Yakutia who has made several attempts to march on foot to Moscow “to drive President Vladimir Putin out of the Kremlin” — was briefly placed in a psychiatric hospital in September 2019 after he called Putin “evil” and marched for 2,000 kilometers in an attempt to reach the capital.

    “The Russian authorities’ response to the shaman’s actions is grotesque,” Amnesty said. “Gabyshev should be free to express his political views and exercise his religion and beliefs just like anyone else.”

    In May 2020, riot police raided Gabyshev’s home and took him to a psychiatric hospital because he allegedly refused to be tested for COVID-19. Amnesty called for his immediate release.

    But in January, Gabyshev was again forcibly taken to a psychiatric clinic after announcing he planned to resume his trek to Moscow to oust Putin.

    In Ukraine

    Prominent Ukrainian filmmaker and activist Oleh Sentsov made the list after he was arrested in Crimea in May 2014 after the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia.

    Oleh Sentsov

    Oleh Sentsov

    Amnesty repeatedly called for the release of Sentsov after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a “terrorism” conviction in what the rights watchdog declared was an “unfair trial on politically motivated charges.”

    After five years in prison in Russia, Sentsov was released in a prisoner swap between Kyiv and pro-Russia separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

    Sentsov was far from the only Ukrainian to be taken down for criticizing Russia’s seizure of Crimea, prompting Amnesty to call for the release of all “all Ukrainian political prisoners” being held in Russia.

    Among them is the first Jehovah’s Witness to be sentenced by Russian authorities in the annexed territory, Sergei Filatov. The father of four was handed a sentence of six years in prison last year for being a member of an extremist group in what Amesty called “the latest example of the wholesale export of Russia’s brutally repressive policies.”

    In Belarus

    In Belarus, some of the biggest names to be declared “prisoners of conscience” are in the opposition to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian leader whose claim to have won a sixth-straight presidential term in August has led to months of anti-government protests.

    Viktar Babaryka

    Viktar Babaryka

    Viktar Babaryka, a former banker whose bid to challenge Lukashenka was halted by his arrest as part of what Amnesty called a “full-scale attack on human rights” ahead of the vote, went on trial on February 17 on charges of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion.

    Fellow opposition member Paval Sevyarynets, who has been in custody since June, was charged with taking part in mass disorder related to his participation in rallies during which demonstrators attempted to collect signatures necessary to register presidential candidates other than Lukashenka.

    Syarhey Tsikhanouski

    Syarhey Tsikhanouski

    The popular blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski was jailed after expressing interest in running against Lukashenka and remains in prison. Three of his associates went on trial in January on charges of organizing mass disorder in relation to the mass protests that broke out after the election.

    Tsikhanouski’s wife, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place as a candidate and considers herself the rightful winner of the election.

    In Kazakhstan

    Aigul Otepova

    Aigul Otepova

    Aigul Otepova, a Kazakh blogger and journalist accused of involvement in a banned organization, was forcibly placed by a court in a psychiatric clinic in November, prompting Amnesty to declare her a “a prisoner of conscience who is being prosecuted solely for the peaceful expression of her views.”

    Otepova has denied any affiliation with the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) opposition movement, which has been labeled an extremist group by the Kazkakh authorities, and Otepova’s daughter told RFE/RL that the authorities were trying to silence her ahead of Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections in January.

    Otepova was released from the facility in December.

    In Iran

    Nasrin Sotoudeh

    Nasrin Sotoudeh

    Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has represented opposition activists including women prosecuted for removing their mandatory head scarves, was arrested in 2018 and charged with spying, spreading propaganda, and insulting Iran’s supreme leader.

    She found herself back in prison in December, less than a month after she was granted a temporary release from her sentence to a total of 38 1/2 years in prison and 148 lashes.

    Amnesty has called Sotoudeh’s case “shocking” and considers her a “prisoner of conscience.” In its most recent action regarding Sotoudeh, the rights watchdog called for her to be released “immediately and unconditionally.”

    In Kyrgyzstan

    Amnesty International in August 2019 called the life sentence handed down to Kyrgyz rights defender Azimjan Askarov a “triumph of injustice.”

    Azimjan Askarov

    Azimjan Askarov

    The ethnic Uzbek Askarov was convicted of creating a mass disturbance and of involvement in the murder of a police officer during deadly interethnic clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June 2010 when more than 450 people, mainly Uzbeks, were killed and tens of thousands more were displaced.

    Askarov has said the charges against him are politically motivated, and the UN Human Rights Committed has determined that he was not given a fair trial and was tortured in detention.

    In May, after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to not review Askarov’s sentence, Amnesty said the ruling “compounds 10 years of deep injustice inflicted on a brave human rights defender who should never have been jailed.”

    In Pakistan

    Junaid Hafeez

    Junaid Hafeez

    Amnesty has called the case of Junaid Hafeez “a travesty” and in 2019 called on Pakistan’s authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release the university lecturer charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.

    Hafeez was charged under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, which Amnesty has called on the country to repeal, describing them as “overly broad, vague, and coercive” and saying they were “used to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas, and carry out vigilante violence.”

    Hafeez has been in solitary confinement since June 2014.

    In Azerbaijan

    Leyla and Arif Yunus

    Leyla and Arif Yunus

    Human rights activists Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus were arrested separately in 2014 and convicted of economic crimes in August 2015 after a trial Amnesty denounced as “shockingly unjust.”

    After Leyla Yunus was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison, and her husband to seven years, Amnesty said that the rulings showed the “continuous criminalization of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan.”

    After the two were released on health grounds in late 2015 and their prison sentences reduced to suspended sentences, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Azerbaijan to pay them approximately $45,660 for violating their basic rights.

    In April 2016, they were allowed to leave the country and settled in the Netherlands.

    In Uzbekistan

    Azam Farmonov

    Azam Farmonov

    In 2009, Amnesty called for the immediate release of rights activists Azam Farmonov and Alisher Karamatov, who were detained in 2006 while defending the rights of farmers in Uzbekistan who had accused local officials of extortion and corruption.

    Amnesty said the two men had allegedly been tortured and declared them “prisoners of conscience.”

    In 2012, Karamatov was released after serving nearly two-thirds of a nine-year prison sentence.

    Farmonov served 10 years before his release in 2017, but reemerged in March when his U.S.-based NGO representing prisoners’ rights in Uzbekistan, Huquiqiy Tayanch, was successfully registered by the country’s Justice Ministry.

    Written by Michael Scollon, with additional reporting by Golnaz Esfandiari

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyz Villagers Losing Patience With State’s Failure To Resolve Border Problems With Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

    Fresh from medical treatment in Germany, Kyrgyz national security head Kamchybek Tashiev urgently flew from Bishkek to the southern Batken region on February 18 to deal with people’s growing anger over the failure by officials to resolve pressing border issues.

    Tashiev, chief of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (UKMK), hoped to reduce tensions along Kyrgyzstan’s long southern borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Since the border guard service was put under UKMK control in November, the problems are Tashiev’s responsibility.

    Grumbling by residents along the border resulted in people from Batken and districts in Jalal-Abad Province demonstrating earlier this month in the capital for a resolution to the long-standing problem of demarcation.

    Villagers living along the borders claim neighboring states are encroaching on Kyrgyz territory and want it stopped.

    New Kyrgyz Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov spoke about the disputed Torkul reservoir and canal in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border area on February 8.

    “Unfortunately, it seems we (Kyrgyzstan) have ceded the upper reaches of the Tokgul reservoir channel,” Maripov explained.

    Maripov’s comment is precisely what residents of Kyrgyzstan’s border areas do not want to hear from government officials.

    In Bishkek on February 15, Gulzhigit Isakov, the leader of a group from Batken that calls itself Chek Ara (Border), criticized new populist President Sadyr Japarov.

    “It is upsetting that while someone is taking over our border, Sadyr [Japarov] has not raised the issue once in any of his interviews,” Isakov said.

    The Kyrgyz-Tajik Border

    Isakov was referring to the situation in the area around the Kyrgyz villages of Ak-Sai and Kok-Tash that over the last decade have seen many clashes between residents from both sides of the border.

    And while once those clashes were limited to the two parties throwing sticks and stones at each other, they have increasingly involved gunfire and deaths.

    On February 11, a group of Tajik villagers planted trees in a field by the Kyrgyz village of Chek-Dobo, which is near Kok-Tash.

    The field was in an area that has not yet been demarcated.

    The next day, all the trees had been dug up and were left lying on the ground. So the Tajik villagers returned to try and replant them.

    But Kyrgyz border guards arrived and ordered them to stop, with harsh words exchanged. Then Tajik border guards arrived and the “border guards of the two countries took up positions.”

    The villagers of Ak-Sai are fed up by the failure of officials to resolve pressing border issues.

    The villagers of Ak-Sai are fed up by the failure of officials to resolve pressing border issues.

    In Bishkek, Isakov claimed “the Tajik side brought soldiers and equipment to the Ak-Sai area…because our border guards removed their post [there].”

    Officials from both countries eventually arrived and negotiations cooled tempers — for a while at least — with each side pledging not to do any work of any kind on disputed land.

    But the incident points out how sensitive the situation is and how high emotions there are, that a simple act such as planting trees nearly set off violent clashes.

    The Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border

    On February 14, workers from Uzbekistan’s electricity company started setting up electricity poles near the Kyrgyz villages of Suu-Bash and Boz-Adyr in Batken Province.

    The village is near Uzbekistan’s Soh exclave, one of the most interesting places in the Ferghana Valley. It belongs to Uzbekistan, is surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, and is inhabited overwhelmingly by ethnic Tajiks.

    Ethnic Kyrgyz residents alerted border guards to the action and, after a meeting with their Uzbek counterparts, the poles were removed.

    But more problems are almost surely coming as Uzbekistan has already started building an airport at Soh — scheduled to be completed in May — to better connect the exclave with Uzbekistan proper.

    No Kyrgyz territory is endangered by the airport, but symbolically it certainly reinforces Uzbekistan’s claim to the exclave and is a reminder to local Kyrgyz that its larger neighbor is paying attention to an area many in Kyrgyzstan believe is neglected by their government.

    On the same day Tajik villagers attempted to plant trees near Chek-Dobo, Uzbek border guards accompanied by others in plainclothes began setting up border markers near the Kyrgyz village of Kosh-Bolot, in the Ala-Buka district of Jalal-Abad Province.

    Kosh-Bolot residents say the Uzbeks were on Kyrgyz territory.

    “The Uzbek military came close to the house of one of our residents and put their pillars there, thereby marking it as their territory. Our border guards arrived at the scene but did not say anything,” one local resident said.

    The Kyrgyz website Kaktus.media reported that “sources in the government” said that the area where the Uzbek border guards were setting up markers belongs to Uzbekistan under the terms of a September 2017 agreement, “but local residents, not understanding the situation, expressed their dissatisfaction.”

    The Ala-Buka district has been the scene of high tension between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan before.

    A reservoir is located there that is claimed by both countries: by Uzbekistan because they say they paid for its construction during the Soviet era, and by Kyrgyzstan because it is located well inside Kyrgyzstan.

    Water from the reservoir has always been mainly used for fields in Uzbekistan.

    Uzbek troops crossed into the area twice in 2016 and, in August of that year, occupied a nearby mountain called Ungar-Too, holding captive several Kyrgyz employees there who were operating a telecommunications relay station.

    No Easy Solutions

    The Kyrgyz-Tajik border is some 976 kilometers long, of which about 520 kilometers has been demarcated.

    The Kyrgyz-Uzbek border is some 1,378 kilometers long, with about 1,100 kilometers of it demarcated.

    Nazirbek Borubaev is Kyrgyzstan's special representative for border issues.

    Nazirbek Borubaev is Kyrgyzstan’s special representative for border issues.

    Kyrgyz Special Representative for Border Issues Nazirbek Borubaev said at a February 15 press conference that “many of our citizens are making statements that ‘our land is being given to the neighbors,’ based on unconfirmed information.”

    But some people in Kyrgyzstan doubts this.

    Tashiev said border talks with Tajik officials would take place in the first half of March and with Uzbek officials in the second part of that month.

    Tashiev also said the budget for border security would be increased, and he repeated to residents of border villages in Batken Province a promise he has made several times over the years, long before he was UKMK chief, that “not one square centimeter” of Kyrgyz territory would be given to the country’s neighbors.

    That undoubtedly suits people in Kyrgyzstan, but it is a hard bargaining point for neighbors who are also seeking concessions.

    Borubaev said that “if necessary, we can find something in the archives in Moscow.” Generally, maps drawn after Russian colonization of Central Asia have been the basis for contemporary border demarcation work for the current Central Asian states that didn’t exist at the time.

    Meetings of officials poring over Russian-Soviet maps to determine the borders of their countries is possibly the only way to make progress in reaching final agreements on the remaining frontiers of the five Central Asian states.

    But for the people living in these areas, the issue of where the borders should be depends on where arable fields and pasturelands are located and where the water sources are.

    And as long as the border talks continue, there are tracts of land in disputed areas that could be used for orchards or grazing but are left unused.

    Meanwhile, many Kyrgyz residents seem to be poorly informed about the deals that have been made by previous governments about what is and what is not Kyrgyz territory.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Homophobic Hate Speech On The Rise In Europe, Says New Report

    An advocacy group says that homophobic language and hate speech against transgender people is on the rise among European politicians and has warned about a backlash against the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people across the continent.

    The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association said in its annual report published on February 16 that politicians in 17 countries in Europe and Central Asia have verbally attacked LGBT people over the past year.

    The report highlighted Poland, where nationalist politicians from the ruling right-wing PiS party have criticized “LGBT ideology” during election campaigns. It also singled out Hungary, where transgender people last year were banned from legally changing gender.

    The situation for LGBT people in Bulgaria and Romania could worsen this year, while in Turkey, ruling-party politicians have repeatedly attacked LGBT people, Evelyne Paradis, the association’s executive director, warned.

    The trend of politicians verbally attacking LGBT people has also been on the rise in countries such as Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Russia, the report said.

    In Belarus and Ukraine, some religious leaders have blamed LGBT people for the coronavirus pandemic. Hate speech on social media has grown in Montenegro, Russia, and Turkey, in traditional media in Ukraine, and is an ongoing issue in Georgia, North Macedonia, and Romania, the group said.

    “There’s growing hate speech specifically targeting trans people and that is being reported more and more across the region….We have grave concerns that it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Paradis said.

    In Central Asia, LGBT rights are stagnating or backsliding in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the report said, adding that in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, “we see windows of opportunity for advancing LGBT rights.”

    The group said the pandemic has caused difficulties for some young LGBT people at home with homophobic families during lockdowns and given openings to politicians who attack gay and trans people as a way to shift attention from economic problems.

    “LGBT communities are amongst the groups that get scapegoated in particular,” said Paradis.

    With reporting by Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • HRW Joins Other Rights Watchdogs In Condemning Uzbek Blogger’s Arrest

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) has joined other rights organizations in condemning the arrest of Uzbek video blogger Otabek Sattoriy, calling the extortion case against him “dubious” and urging the Central Asian country’s government to drop all charges and release him.

    “Otabek Sattoriy’s blogging on sensitive issues such as alleged corruption and farmers’ rights has put him in local authorities’ crosshairs,” Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at HRW, said in a statement on February 12.

    “Uzbek authorities should release Sattoriy, drop the charges for lack of evidence, and respect and protect freedom of expression,” Rittmann added.

    The 40-year-old founder and editor of the video blog Halq Fikiri (People’s Opinion), which is streamed on his Telegram and YouTube channels, was detained in late January.

    A court in the southern city of Termiz on February 1 placed him in pretrial detention on suspicion of extorting a new mobile phone from the head of a local bazaar.

    HRW said in the statement that the authorities claim that Sattoriy extorted a new phone from the head of a local bazaar in Termiz, while his relatives and a colleague insist that unknown individuals attacked Sattoriy in late December when he was trying to collect material at the bazaar for his report about irregularities there.

    The head of the bazaar later agreed to replace the broken phone and brought it to Sattoriy in late January, and several men in plain clothes detained the blogger right after that, HRW said,citing Sattoriy’s relatives.

    Sattoriy’s lawyer has called the case against his client “fabricated.”

    “Targeting Sattoriy with questionable criminal charges is a blow to freedom of speech,” HRW’s Rittmann said. “The authorities should release Sattoriy from pretrial detention and, unless they can present any credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing, drop the case.”

    The Uzbek Prosecutor-General’s Office, however, said on February 11 that the criminal case against Sattoriy was “lawful.”

    Since Shavkat Mirziyoev became president in late 2016, the Uzbek authorities have promised to ease media restrictions put in place by his predecessor, longtime authoritarian leader Islam Karimov, that earned the government a reputation as a chronic abuser of rights.

    Despite some improvements, rights groups say the media is still being kept on a short leash.

    Sattoriy has been known as a harsh critic of regional Governor Tora Bobolov. In one of his recent postings, Sattoriy openly accused the local government of launching fabricated criminal cases against bloggers and vowed to continue to raise the issue of corruption among officials despite the “crackdown.”

    The HRW statement comes on the heels of similar reports from Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, which have also condemned Sattoriy’s arrest and demanded his release.

    Since his arrest, Sattoriy has already been tried in a separate case and was found guilty of defamation and distributing false information. According to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the blogger was ordered to pay a fine for the offenses.

    Uzbekistan is ranked 156th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Authorities Say Case Against Jailed Blogger ‘Lawful’; Rights Groups Blast ‘Fabricated Charges’

    TASHKENT — The Uzbek Prosecutor-General’s Office has said a criminal case against Otabek Sattoriy, a video blogger critical of the regional government, is “lawful,” while rights watchdogs said the case is fabricated and called on Tashkent to immediately release Sattoriy.

    In its February 11 statement, the Prosecutor-General’s Office said that special inspections had not revealed any wrongdoings by the Interior Ministry’s directorate in the southern Surxondaryo region, where the 40-year-old founder and editor of the video blog Halq Fikiri (People’s Opinion) was arrested in lateJanuary.

    “A criminal case launched against Otabek Sattoriy is based on complaints related to seven episodes, which are currently being investigated,” the statement said, without giving any other details of the case.

    The statement added that since his arrest on January 29, Sattoriy, who streamed on Telegram and YouTube, has already been tried in a separate case and was found guilty of defamation, insult, and distribution of false information. According to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, a court in the city of Termiz ordered the blogger to pay a fine after finding him guilty.

    Sattoriy’s relatives told RFE/RL earlier that he was charged with extorting money and stealing mobile phones from unspecified individuals. If found guilty, Sattoriy may face up to 10 years in prison.

    Sattoriy has been known as a harsh critic of the regional governor Tora Bobolov. In one of his recent postings, Sattoriy openly accused the local government of launching fabricated criminal cases against bloggers and vowed to continue to raise the issue of corruption among officials despite the “crackdown.”

    Media freedom watchdogs have condemned Sattoriy’s arrest.

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on February 11 that the charges against the blogger are aimed at silencing his reporting on local corruption.

    “This is yet another attempt to silence critical voices in Uzbekistan,” Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said in the statement.

    “We firmly condemn the use of fabricated charges with the aim of covering up local corruption, and we call on the authorities to release this blogger at once and to drop all proceedings against him,” Cavelier added.

    The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists earlier this month called for Sattoriy’s release, saying “the persecution of bloggers and citizen journalists for their reporting on corruption violates their constitutional rights.”

    RSF said that despite a “relative improvement” in press freedom since President Shavkat Mirziyoev took over the Central Asian country in 2016, “critical journalists and bloggers are still often imprisoned, and extortion charges are still often used to silence dissent.”

    Uzbekistan is ranked 156th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Journalism Watchdog Calls On Uzbek Authorities To Release Jailed Anti-Corruption Blogger

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is calling on Uzbek authorities to release a jailed blogger the rights group says faces trumped-up charges for his coverage of corruption.

    Otabek Sattoriy was detained by a group of plain-clothed police on January 29 in the southern city of Termez on allegations of extortion. He is currently in pre-trial detention and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

    “Authorities in Uzbekistan should immediately release blogger Otabek Sattoriy and drop the trumped-up charges against him,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said on February 8. “The persecution of bloggers and citizen journalists for their reporting on corruption violates their constitutional rights. Journalists in Uzbekistan should be able to do their jobs without a fear of being hit with retaliatory charges.”

    The 40-year-old journalist is known for harshly criticizing the region’s governor Tora Bobolov through the video blog Halq Fikiri (People’s Opinion) streamed on his Telegram and YouTube channels.

    In one of his recent postings, Sattoriy openly accused the local government of launching fabricated criminal cases against bloggers and vowed to continue to raise the issue of corruption among officials despite the “crackdown.”

    CPJ reported that authorities accuse Sattoriy of extorting a local businessman who had broken the blogger’s phone during an argument over filming a report about high prices at a local market.

    The businessman reportedly later contacted Sattoriy and offered to replace the broken phone, but when the phone was exchanged police detained the blogger and accused him of extorting the man to get the phone, CPJ said, citing comments from the blogger’s lawyer.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Blogger Critical Of Local Governor Arrested For Alleged Extortion

    TERMIZ, Uzbekistan — An Uzbek blogger critical of the local government in the southern Surxondaryo region has been arrested on charges that relatives say are trumped up.

    Otabek Sattoriy was charged by the Interior Ministry’s investigative department on February 1 on extortion charges.

    That came days after Sattoriy was taken from his home on January 29 by plainclothes security officers, his sister Farangiz Alimova told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service on February 2.

    Alimova provided RFE/RL with security-camera footage of the moment of her brother’s detainment.

    Alimova cited the blogger’s lawyer as saying that Sattoriy had been charged with extorting cash and a mobile phone from unnamed individuals.

    According to Sattoriy’s relatives, a court in Termiz ruled on February 1 to place Sattoriy in pretrial detention.

    They insist the charges against the blogger are fabricated.

    The 40-year-old blogger has been known as a harsh critic of the region’s governor Tora Bobolov. Sattoriy’s popular video blog Halq Fikiri (People’s Opinion) has been streamed on his Telegram and YouTube channels for some time.

    In one of his recent postings, Sattoriy openly accused the local government of launching fabricated criminal cases against bloggers and vowed to continue to raise the issue of corruption among officials despite the “crackdown.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Lawyers In Central Asia — Defending Clients And Themselves

    January 24 was the Day of the Endangered Lawyer and an opportunity to remember the many problems some Central Asian attorneys have to face.

    In Central Asia, defendants have a right to an attorney, but state-appointed defenders have a reputation for half-hearted work or, in some cases, even supporting the prosecution in convicting their clients.

    Being an independent lawyer willing to defend people who for some reason or another are looked upon as a nuisance or threat by the governments of the region is a hazardous occupation.

    Some of these attorneys are intimidated or threatened, some are attacked, and some are imprisoned.

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the plight of lawyers in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: Madina Akhmetova, the director of the Dignity public association based in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan; Jasmine Cameron, who is originally from Kyrgyzstan but is now a senior staff attorney at the Human Rights Center of the American Bar Association; from California, Steve Swerdlow, a longtime Central Asia watcher, recently returned from Uzbekistan, and human rights lawyer who is currently an associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California; and from Prague, Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Lawyers In Central Asia — Defending Clients And Themselves

    January 24 was the Day of the Endangered Lawyer and an opportunity to remember the many problems some Central Asian attorneys have to face.

    In Central Asia, defendants have a right to an attorney, but state-appointed defenders have a reputation for half-hearted work or, in some cases, even supporting the prosecution in convicting their clients.

    Being an independent lawyer willing to defend people who for some reason or another are looked upon as a nuisance or threat by the governments of the region is a hazardous occupation.

    Some of these attorneys are intimidated or threatened, some are attacked, and some are imprisoned.

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on the plight of lawyers in Central Asia.

    This week’s guests are: Madina Akhmetova, the director of the Dignity public association based in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan; Jasmine Cameron, who is originally from Kyrgyzstan but is now a senior staff attorney at the Human Rights Center of the American Bar Association; from California, Steve Swerdlow, a longtime Central Asia watcher, recently returned from Uzbekistan, and human rights lawyer who is currently an associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California; and from Prague, Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Lawmakers Propose Moving Presidential Election Forward To October

    TASHKENT — Uzbek parliament’s lower chamber, the Oliy Majlis, has proposed moving up presidential elections to October from December as part of a package of election law changes to bring voting to “international standards.”

    Lawmakers approved the proposals in the first reading on October 25.

    According to current legislation, presidential elections are held every five years on the first Sunday to fall during the last 10 days of December.

    Lawmakers are now proposing to hold the vote on the first Sunday during the last 10 days of October, saying that holding presidential polls in December has “led to delays in postelection political activities, including the adoption of a state program and other reforms.”

    It did not say why December polls lead to these delays.

    Some critics in Uzbekistan say the true reason for the proposal is because December is when the government usually comes under harsh criticism over its usual poor performance meeting heating needs as winter clamps down on the country.

    Other amendments in the package deal — which the government says are based on the recommendations of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights — deal with technical aspects of the elections, party financing, speeding up the results process. and cutting out the usage of state resources during election campaigns.

    President Shavkat Mirziyoev is expected to take part in the next presidential election, with his first five-year term ending this year.

    Mirziyoev took over Central Asia’s most populous nation of 32 million after the death of his authoritarian predecessor, Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, was announced in early September 2016.

    He was elected president later in December that year.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Biden And Central Asia — Three Former Ambassadors Weigh In

    On January 20, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. How might the new U.S. leadership change policy toward Central Asia? What might the Central Asian states be looking for from the Biden administration? And what aspects of U.S.-Central Asian relations are likely to remain the same?

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on those questions and more.

    This week’s guests are: from Bishkek, the former Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States, Kadyr Toktogulov; from Washington, the former U.S ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and later Uzbekistan, Pamela Spratlen; also from Washington, the former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and later Georgia, William Courtney; and from Prague, Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Majlis Podcast: Biden And Central Asia — Three Former Ambassadors Weigh In

    On January 20, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. How might the new U.S. leadership change policy toward Central Asia? What might the Central Asian states be looking for from the Biden administration? And what aspects of U.S.-Central Asian relations are likely to remain the same?

    On this week’s Majlis podcast, RFE/RL media-relations manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on those questions and more.

    This week’s guests are: from Bishkek, the former Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States, Kadyr Toktogulov; from Washington, the former U.S ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and later Uzbekistan, Pamela Spratlen; also from Washington, the former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and later Georgia, William Courtney; and from Prague, Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.

    Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek PM Replaces Leadership At Metallurgic Plant Controlled By Powerful Tycoon

    TASHKENT — Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov has replaced the leadership at a large industrial facility controlled by the clan of influential tycoon, Kazakhstan-based Uzbek-Belgian billionaire Patokh Shodiev.

    Aripov visited the Uzbekistan Metallurgic Plant in the eastern city of Bekobod on January 20, where he announced at the gathering of the facility’s administration that plant director Jahongir Mustafoev was being removed and will be replaced by Rashid Pirmatov.

    Employees of the plant who attended the gathering told RFE/RL that Aripov also removed Sergei Chaikovsky from the post of deputy director and appointed Dilshod Ahmedov in his place.

    Patokh Shodiev’s brother, Qobul Shodiev, who is the director of the SFI Management Group, which has operated the metallurgic facility since January 2017, was not present at the gathering held by Aripov.

    According to some employees, the move could be a sign that Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s government intends to remove SFI Management from the country’s metallurgical sector.

    A spokesperson for the SFI Management Group refused to comment on Aripov’s decisions, saying that the company had yet to receive any formal notification of what happened at the gathering.

    Separately on January 20, an explosion killed three people at another facility operated by the SFI Management group — the Yangi Angren Thermal Power Station in the Uzbek town of Nurobod in the Tashkent region.

    Investigators are working on finding the cause of the deadly blast.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Activist Claims Corruption In Distribution Of Compensation From Deadly Dam Accident

    TASHKENT — An Uzbek rights activist and blogger says several people have been jailed after they complained of corruption in the distribution of housing and financial compensation for victims of a deadly dam accident in the eastern region of Sirdaryo last year.

    Khairullo Qilichev told RFE/RL that several people in the region had been handed jail terms of between three and seven days after they made the accusations during their efforts to receive compensation following the disaster. According to him, the people were jailed on charges of hooliganism and disobeying the authorities.

    The dam of the Sardoba Reservoir in the eastern Uzbek region of Sirdaryo burst early on May 1, 2020, resulting in the death of six people and forcing at least 70,000 people out of their homes. Over 600 homes in neighboring Kazakhstan were also flooded.

    Qilichev said many of those who lost their homes had yet to receive the compensation promised by President Shavkat Mirziyoev, while many people related to local officials and whose properties had not been affected by the flooding had been provided with new houses and financial allowances.

    Qilichev added that he officially requested from the Sirdaryo regional administration information on the number of local people who lost their houses after the dam burst and how many of them had been jailed in recent weeks. He said he had yet to receive an answer.

    A resident of the Sardoba district, 30-year-old Ihtiyor Ochilov, told RFE/RL that he had spent seven days in jail after he officially demanded the authorities provide him and his mother with compensation for damage to their properties.

    On January 14, another man, 34-year-old Murodjon Mamaraimov, was handed a seven-day jail term on charges of hooliganism and disobeying the authorities a week after he issued a video statement accusing Sirdaryo authorities of unfairly distributing compensation.

    According to official figures, a total of 2,570 private houses and 76 multistory apartment blocks were destroyed by the flooding, while 1,781 private houses and 52 multistory apartment blocks were partially damaged.

    A total of 17 people, including energy officials, top officials of the state railways company, and heads of construction companies that were involved into the construction of the dam, are currently on trial in Tashkent over the disaster.

    They have been charged with negligence, abuse of office, document forgery, embezzlement, and violating water distribution and safety regulations.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • HRW Urges Biden To Champion Human Rights After Trump’s ‘Disastrous’ Tenure

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on President-elect Joe Biden to reinforce the commitment of the United States to human rights after four years of shirking it during Donald Trump’s presidency, and to join broad coalitions that have emerged to stand up to “powerful actors” such as Russia and China that have been undermining the global human rights system.

    Trump was “a disaster for human rights” both at home and abroad, HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth wrote in an introduction to the New York-based watchdog’s annual report on human rights published on January 13.

    [Trump] cozied up to one friendly autocrat after another at the expense of their abused populations…”

    According to Roth, the outgoing president “flouted legal obligations that allow people fearing for their lives to seek refuge, ripped migrant children from their parents, empowered white supremacists, acted to undermine the democratic process, and fomented hatred against racial and religious minorities,” among other things.

    Trump also “cozied up to one friendly autocrat after another at the expense of their abused populations, promoted the sale of weapons to governments implicated in war crimes, and attacked or withdrew from key international initiatives to defend human rights, promote international justice, advance public health, and forestall climate change.”

    This “destructive” combination eroded the credibility of the U.S. government when it spoke out against abuses in other countries, Roth said, adding: “Condemnations of Venezuela, Cuba, or Iran rang hollow when parallel praise was bestowed on Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Israel.”

    But as the Trump administration “largely abandoned” the protection of human rights abroad and “powerful actors such as China, Russia, and Egypt sought to undermine the global human rights system,” other governments stepped forward to its defense, he said.

    Subscribe To RFE/RL’s Watchdog Report

    Watchdog is our weekly digest of human rights, media freedom, and democracy developments from RFE/RL’s vast broadcast region. In your in-box every Thursday. Subscribe here.

    After Biden’s inauguration on January 20, the U.S. government should “seek to join, not supplant” these collective efforts by a range of Western countries, Latin American democracies, and a growing number of Muslim-majority states.

    Biden should also “seek to reframe the U.S. public’s appreciation of human rights so the U.S. commitment becomes entrenched in a way that is not so easily reversed by his successors.”

    China

    According to HRW’s annual World Report 2021, which summarizes last year’s human rights situation in nearly 100 countries and territories worldwide, the Chinese government’s authoritarianism “was on full display” in 2020.

    Repression deepened across the country, with the government imposing a “draconian” national-security law in Hong Kong and arbitrarily detaining Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region on the basis of their identity, while others are subjected to “forced labor, mass surveillance, and political indoctrination.”

    Russia

    In Russia, HRW said the authorities used the coronavirus pandemic as a “pretext…to restrict human rights in many areas, and to introduce new restrictions, especially over privacy rights.”

    Following a “controversial” referendum on constitutional changes, a crackdown was launched on dissenting voices, with “new, politically motivated prosecutions and raids on the homes and offices of political and civic activists and organizations.”

    Belarus

    The situation wasn’t much better in neighboring Belarus, where HRW said thousands were arbitrarily detained and hundreds were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment as strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka faced an unprecedented wave of protests following a contested presidential election in August.

    “In many cases they detained, beat, fined, or deported journalists who covered the protests and stripped them of their accreditation,” HRW said. “They temporarily blocked dozens of websites and, during several days, severely restricted access to the Internet.”

    Ukraine

    According to the watchdog, the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine “continued to take a high toll on civilians, from threatening their physical safety to limiting access to food, medicines, adequate housing, and schools.”

    Travel restrictions imposed by Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian authorities in response to the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated hardship for civilians and drove them “deeper into poverty.”

    Balkans

    In the Balkan region, HRW said serious human rights concerns remained in Bosnia-Herzegovina over “ethnic divisions, discrimination, and the rights of minorities and asylum seekers,” while “pressure” on media professionals continued.

    There was “limited” improvement in protections of human rights in Serbia, where journalists “faced threats, violence, and intimidation, and those responsible are rarely held to account.”

    On Kosovo, HRW cited continued tensions between ethnic Albanians and Serbs and “threats and intimidation” against journalists, while prosecutions of crimes against journalists have been “slow.”

    Hungary

    Elsewhere in Europe, the government in EU member Hungary continued “its attacks on rule of law and democratic institutions” and “interfered with independent media and academia, launched an assault on members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and undermined women’s rights.”

    Iran

    HRW said Iranian authorities continued to crack down on dissent, including “through excessive and lethal force against protesters and reported abuse and torture in detention,” while U.S. sanctions “impacted Iranians’ access to essential medicines and harmed their right to health.”

    Pakistan

    In neighboring Pakistan, the government “harassed and at times prosecuted human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists for criticizing government officials and policies,” while also cracking down on members and supporters of opposition political parties.

    Meanwhile, attacks by Islamist militants targeting law enforcement officials and religious minorities killed dozens of people.

    Afghanistan

    HRW noted that fighting between Afghan government forces, the Taliban, and other armed groups caused nearly 6,000 civilian casualties in the first nine months of the year.

    The Afghan government “failed to prosecute senior officials responsible for sexual assault, torture, and killing civilians,” while “threats to journalists by both the Taliban and government officials continued.”

    South Caucasus

    In the South Caucasus, six weeks of fighting over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region dominated events in both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

    HRW said all parties to the conflict committed violations of international humanitarian law, including by using banned cluster munitions.

    Central Asia

    In Central Asia, critics of the Kazakh government faced “harassment and prosecution, and free speech was suppressed.”

    Kyrgyz authorities “misused” lockdown measures imposed in response to the coronavirus epidemic to “obstruct the work of journalists and lawyers,” and parliament “advanced several problematic draft laws including an overly broad law penalizing manipulation of information.”

    Tajik authorities “continued to jail government critics, including opposition activists and journalists, for lengthy prison terms on politically motivated grounds.”

    The government also “severely” restricted freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion, including through heavy censorship of the Internet.

    Uzbekistan’s political system remained “largely authoritarian” with thousands of people — mainly peaceful religious believers — being kept behind bars on false charges.

    Citing reports of torture and ill-treatment in prisons, HRW said journalists and activists were persecuted, independent rights groups were denied registration, and forced labor was not eliminated.

    Turkmenistan experienced “cascading social and economic crises as the government recklessly denied and mismanaged” the COVID-19 epidemic in the country, leading to “severe shortages” of affordable food.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uzbek Women Offered Cheap Coal After Blocking Highway Ahead Of President’s Visit

    Women in Uzbekistan’s eastern region of Jizzax have been offered cheap coal after they blocked a highway to protest against a lack of natural gas and electricity amid an unusually cold winter. 

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.